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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA No. 2-329 / 11-0785 Filed June 27, 2012

FERLIN SHERIDAN, Applicant-Appellant, vs. STATE OF IOWA, Respondent-Appellee. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Woodbury County, Jeffrey A. Neary, Judge.

Ferlin Sheridan appeals the district court dismissal of his application for postconviction relief and asserts claims of ineffective assistance of trial and postconviction counsel. AFFIRMED.

Martha McMinn, Sioux City, for appellant. Thomas J. Miller, Attorney General, Thomas Andrews, Assistant Attorney General, Patrick Jennings, County Attorney, and Jill Esteves, Assistant County Attorney, for appellee.

Considered by Vaitheswaran, P.J., and Doyle and Danilson, JJ.

2 DANILSON, J. Ferlin Sheridan appeals the district court dismissal of his application for postconviction relief. Sheridan alleges his trial counsel rendered ineffective He also claims his

assistance by failing to inform him of a plea offer.

postconviction counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to develop the record regarding what advice trial counsel gave concerning the State's plea offer. We conclude Sheridan was informed of the only plea offer tendered, and even if trial counsel or postconviction relief counsel were ineffective, no prejudice resulted, as Sheridan has not suggested or demonstrated that he would have ever accepted the plea offer tendered. We affirm. I. Background Facts and Proceedings. After Sheridan's televisions were stolen, Sheridan and two of his friends entered Steven Jackson's home to see if they were in his possession. An

altercation arose. Jackson's girlfriend called the police. Officers arrived at the scene and arrested Sheridan and his friends as they were emerging from Jackson's home. On November 4, 2007, Sheridan was charged with burglary in the first degree, willful injury, and assault while participating in a felony. Before trial, the State offered a fifteen-year sentence without the habitual offender enhancement in exchange for a guilty plea, which Sheridan did not accept. After a February 2008 trial, he was convicted on all three counts and sentenced to a term of imprisonment not to exceed twenty-five years. Sheridan appealed his conviction, alleging there was insufficient evidence to support a burglary conviction. This court rejected that argument, finding the

3 jury determined the victim's testimony that Sheridan and his friends did not have permission to enter his house was more credible than Sheridan's codefendant's testimony to the contrary. On September 1, 2011, Sheridan filed an application for postconviction relief, claiming his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by (1) failing to inform him of a plea offer of a ten-year sentence; (2) failing to seek suppression of brass knuckles found at the crime scene; and (3) failing to seek suppression of his criminal history. On appeal, Sheridan only advances a claim of ineffective assistance of trial counsel with respect to the plea issue. He further contends his postconviction counsel was ineffective in failing to develop the record regarding the adequacy of trial counsel's advice concerning the plea offer. The State filed a motion for summary judgment and an affidavit from Sheridan's trial counsel confirming that he informed Sheridan of the only offer from the State, which was for a fifteen-year sentence. There was never an offer for a ten-year sentence. Sheridan's postconviction counsel filed a motion to withdraw and brief in support, citing his inability to find ethical grounds on which to base a resistance to the State's motion. The court granted the motion to withdraw and the State's motion for summary judgment, citing the reasoning provided in the brief in support of postconviction counsel's motion to withdraw. II. Standard of Review. Generally, we review postconviction proceedings, including summary dismissals of applications for postconviction relief, for errors at law. Castro v. State, 795 N.W.2d 789, 792 (Iowa 2011). However, applications that raise an

4 ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim present a constitutional challenge, which we review de novo. Id. III. Discussion. A. Summary Judgment. Summary judgment is properly granted in a postconviction relief action "when . . . there is no genuine issue of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." Iowa Code

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